Our published stories about African textiles and beads
Magie Relph and Bob Irwin have travelled the length and breadth of Africa for over 30 years, researching, buying and documenting African textiles, fabrics and beads.
In addition to our acclaimed book African Wax Print: A Textile Journey, we continue to write informative and entertaining articles for numerous magazines.
These stories mean a lot to us. They document our adventures and record the textile traditions we've learned about from artisans and traders all over Africa.
Here are a few of our published stories in PDF format. We hope you enjoy them.
About PDF documents
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Magie Relph and Bob Irwin doing research in Pemba, MoçambiqueKati Torda: Life, Beads and Stories
Imagine it's 1979. You're a 20 year-old Hungarian newlywed, landing in Accra to make a new life with your Ghanaian husband. Oh, and you speak no English.
So began a life in beads for and extraordinary artist, creative spirit and storyteller - Kati Torda.
We've known and worked with Kati for many years. On our last trip to Ghana in March 2022, we recorded many of her stories for the Bead Society of Great Britain Journal.
You'll also meet Auntie Dei Dei and African Champion - the iconic clonette dolls - made in Ghana since the 1950s.
Words and images © Robert Irwin
Read and print story Kati Torda: Life, Beads and Stories
Courtesy of the Bead Society of Great Britain Journal, 2022
Clockwise from top left: Kati Torda on stage at 2022 Jewellery Art Show, Accra. Ashanti Royal necklace highlights traditional lost wax brass beads. The Nourisher Amazon necklace features horn tips and reconstituted turquoise beads. Clonette dolls - Auntie Dei Dei and her brother African Champion - toys made in Ghana since the 1950s.An African Six Pack
In this very short article, Bob proves that wise adage of Old African Hands: the only thing you can count on in Africa is the beer.
Sorry, no textiles. But we hope you enjoy it anyhow.
Words and images © Robert Irwin
Read and print story An African Six Pack
First published in More Travellers’ Tales from Heaven and Hell, Travellers Eye Publications, 1999.
Bob enjoys a cold Star beer in an Accra street bar, 2019A Mad Dash: Flying Down to Lagos
Travel in Africa can sometimes be a real challenge. Bob certainly found that on this legendary journey from Kano to Lagos in Nigeria back in the 1980s.
Sorry, no textiles. But we hope you enjoy it anyhow.
Words and images © Robert Irwin
Read and print story A Mad Dash: Flying Down to Lagos
African Safari magazine, 1995
What ever the problem, there's always a solutionTo the Dogon in Search of Indigo
Mali's Bandiagara Escarpment is a long way from anywhere. Remote, rocky and relentlessly hot, it's home to the Dogon people. They're best known for their traditional animist beliefs and burying their dead in cliff-face caves high above their villages in the valley.
All very interesting, of course. But our quest was indigo.
Words and images © Robert Irwin and Magie Relph
Read and print story To the Dogon in Search of Indigo
Patchwork and Quilting, 2009
Fatmata Babage, indigo dyer:Kuduo: lost wax casting of the Ashanti kingdom
Think bee's wax, manipulated and molded into models of tiny beads, pendants and artefacts.
Think recycled brass: corroded padlocks, broken taps and salvadged car parts.
Think fire, intense and red hot.
Using these basic elements, the brass bead makers of Kofofrom employ ancient 'lost wax' technology to cast their traditional beads and artefacts.
Words and images © Robert Irwin
Read and print story Kuduo: lost wax casting of the Ashanti Kingdom
Bead Society Journal, 2020
Lost wax casting - cire perdue:Kofofrom, Ghana
Artists in Appliqué: the tentmakers of Cairo
Cairo's Khayamia Street - the Street of the Tentmakers - is off the beaten track and of another time. It's where the ancient Cairo tradition of needle-turned appliqué art still survives, practiced by a dwindling number of exceptional textile artists.
Words and images © Robert Irwin and Magie Relph
Read and print story Artists in Appliqué
Popular Patchwork, 2008
Hany el-Sayed Amed, tentmaker:Khayamia Street - Street of the Tentmakers - Cairo
Salon International l'Artisanat de Ouagadougou: fabric hunting in Africa
The hunt for fabrics in Africa is constantly in flux.
Take Africa's biggest arts and crafts festival, SIAO - the Salon International l'Artisanat de Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.
Once it was one of our regular hunting grounds. From it's multitudes of artisan makers and itinerant traders, we discovered many textiles for the very first time - Mauritania's distinctive malafa cloth, for example.
Today, Burkina Faso is way too dangerous to visit. Here's what it was like before: textile heaven.
Words and images © Robert Irwin and Magie Relph
Read and print story Fabric Hunting in Africa with Nana Benz
Popular Patchwork, 2007
Oumar Cisse - aka 'Peace Corp Baba':SIAO, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso